Spiffy:

Iffy:

No online for Wii; frame rate could be smoother.

X-Men Legends started a fresh new line of fun action-RPGs based on famous superheroes, and now Activision is returning to its popular formula with its most ambitious game plan yet. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance brings together dozens upon dozens of familiar heroes and villains and unleashes them in a battle royale of epic proportions. Think of it as the Marvel videogame equivalent of DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and you're getting close.

The plot, dreamed up in tandem by both Raven and Marvel's CB Cebulski, revolves around Dr. Doom's scheme to unite the supervillains in a nefarious group known as Masters of Evil. Their goal? You guessed it, world domination. This is no typical caper, so the powers and talents of literally dozens of superheroes will be required to quell the threat.

Who can you expect to play? While certain characters were not yet playable, the character select screen showed Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Ronin, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Deadpool, Thing, Luke Cage, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, Storm, Mr. Fantastic, Iceman, Elektra, Iron Man, and nine or so mysterious, unlockable silhouettes. On the villain's team are Dr. Doom, Galactus, Bullseye, The Rhino, Arcade, and many, many more. This is quite the Marvel house party.

Hack, Slash, Power-up, Repeat

The basic gameplay is closely patterned after X-Men Legends and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, with lots of real-time combat, leveling-up, and general dungeon hackery. Even if you're alone, you'll command a team of four characters at once, with AI controlling your three teammates. The huge selection of characters should offer some much-needed variety in playing styles, and further novelty should come through a plot that branches and turns out differently depending on which missions you accept.

Combat's the name of the game, so you'll be doing plenty of it in Ultimate Alliance's 17 different environments. In addition to the typical quick combos, you can grapple and block, as well as attack from the air. A new superpower meter charges as you play, and unleashing its fury spells doom for most enemies. (In multiplayer, one player's super attack will also set off everyone else's, which is a great tactic versus the tough bosses.) Once in a while you'll also run into an environmental object that can be used offensively, as well as equippable weapons. Few games offer more ways to dice, blast, immolate, shatter, zap, ensnare and generally destroy your foes, and you'll only earn more as you level each hero up.

In addition to the typical dungeon crawls, unique scenarios will help keep the action fresh. For example, one level involves fleeing across sky-high catwalks in the wake of the immense and terrifying Galactus. Another bit, a boss fight versus the massive snow giant Ymir, requires you to steal the massive spear of a merely gigantic ice soldier, after which you can leap up Ymir's body to plunge it into his neck. The spear sequence plays out with a button-pressing mini-game on Xbox 360, while the Wii and PS3 versions require various physical controller motions.